The Seventh World Wonder - Niagara Falls

A day before I commenced my first semester in University at Buffalo, I visited the Niagara Falls with my Malaysia Student Association(MaSA) on Sunday. I was so amazed by the beauty of the nature created this wonderful falls which had become one of the world's wonder. The water flows were so strengthful and flow continuous from south to north direction. Because of the waterfalls, the air there was much fresher and humid than usual places away from Niagara Falls.

It is me in the Niagara Falls State Park, United States of America.

Although there lied tree trunks upon the rivers towards the falls, the water flows omnipotently.

The omnipotent flow of water is unmeasurable and enormously beautiful.

The Niagara Falls State Park is quite a huge park to walk around to enjoy the beautiful sceneries of Niagara Falls. The Niagara Falls are categorised into three names, namely American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and Canadian Falls. From the Niagara Falls State Park, you will be first visiting the American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls then only Canadian Falls. On the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls side, there were a platform built for sightseeing specially on the falls. On the platform, you could see the falls much clearer and experience the strongest wind blowing.

The American Falls sightseeing platform.

The fantastic view of the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls from the sightseeing platform.

The American Falls' and Bridal Veil Falls' fantastic view from another side where you crossed a bridge to.

The partial view of the Canadian Falls.

The view of American and Bridal Veil Falls and Ontario, Canada behind me!

Due to the large amount of the water droplets in the atmosphere around Niagara Falls that will reflect the light, my visit to the Niagara Falls was concluded with the appearance of the strongly visible rainbow. Anyhow, besides enjoying the view of the Niagara Falls, I was able to sightsee the city of Ontario in Canada and to observe something rare in the park comparing to Malaysia where squirrels running around and getting foods from people instead of monkeys climbing around snatching foods from people.

The Skylon Tower of Ontario, Canada.

It was such a wonderful experience and excitement to visit such a wonderful place with fantastic waterfall sceneries in Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls, truly the world's wonder.

Pulau Aman Mee Udang

It was a sunny Friday back on May 25th when I was having my semester break,I had my first visit to Pulau Aman together with my college course mates. Pulau Aman, a small island that had never come into my mind until that day when I am introduced about the availability of the delectable foods there. Well, the key point is freshness of the foods served. It took us about a 45 minutes of drive towards the pier for Pulau Aman excluding the massive traffic jam we encountered in that particular morning.

The pier towards the small island and Pulau Aman.

The 6 Malaysian Ringgit boat ride to and fro.

It was surprisingly chilling during our boat ride towards the island under the hot yet searing sun that day. The breezes were so joyfully awesome until the boat docked at the small pier of Pulau Aman. Upon arrival, there is barely a thing to be expected for luxuries. There is a Fishermen's Club of Pulau Aman and a primary school on the island. Yes, a primary school on the island where there are students and teachers who ride boats every single schooling day towards and from the island for education.

The small pier on Pulau Aman.

The pier had been docked with quite a number of fishermen's boats.

Our final destination on the island, Restaurant Terapung (Floating).

It took us a walking distance towards the restaurant named, Restaurant Terapung, through a very small village and passing by the primary school on the island. Frankly speaking, the life on the island is very plain and simple due to its rurality. Majority of the villagers depend their lives on fishing based on my personal assumption.

A group photo on the pier of Pulau Aman.

Another group photo on the floating restaurant.

We were there for the mantis prawns but we ended up having the Mee Udang instead. The reasons for our miss was the fishermen has yet to be returned from fishing and there were not even one mantis prawn left in the containers. Regardless of the miss, all of us enjoyed our bowls of Mee Udang especially the fresh and sweetish huge prawns served together with the dishes we ordered.

Restaurant Terapung Mee Udang.

With the satisfactory, we left Pulau Aman after having the delicious bowls of Mee Udang and conversations back to Penang Island. I am looking forward to give a try on the mantis prawns and some explorations on Pulau Aman.

Trip to Penang Pulau Jerejak

Being a pure Penangite for almost 20 years, I have to admit that that was the first time I stepped onto an island opposite Queensbay Mall named Pulau Jerejak which the history of the Jerejak Island can be found here. So, it happened on last Saturday when my friends and I had our adventurous outing in Jerejak Island. The adventurous outing was started at around eleven something in the morning as I woke up late as an organizer unintentionally for 8:30AM ferry then all of us missed the 9:45AM ferry again because we went out for our breakfast nearby. We signed up for a package that includes to-and-fro ferry ride, buffet lunch, and 5 exciting activities that costed each of us for RM65. The 5 activities are wall climbing, rappelling, jungle trekking, flying fox, and lastly, crossing over a suspension bridge which they would probably implanting unforgettable memories into your mind like all of us had.

The all-in-one receipt that counted 13 of us on package that day.

Regardless of the precious time being wasted while waiting for the ferry to arrive, we had our great interactions in within the group. Everyone was wondering what would it look like on the other side especially me. "There is a spa resort? Like how?" are the thoughts that kept me wondering and imagining while walking on the seashore.

Penang Bridge, early in the morning.

The 13 awesome spirits who made the day!

Nearly an hour of waiting, the wait was finally over at around 10 something in the morning. All of us finally got on board on the ferry after a distance of walk from the station towards the jetty where we waited for quite some time over there. Upon departure towards our adventure, we were getting closer and closer to our destination. Of coarse, the view from the ferry or maybe from the Jerejak Island to Queensbay was such a rare scenery and they are only be angled through the lens of your camera or your eyeballs while the ferry gets in its track slowly to your destination, Pulau Jerejak.

The interior of the ferry that carries tourists to the Jerejak Island.

The views are fantabulous aren't they? After we arrived at Jerejak Island's jetty, we walked our way to the hotel lobby where we were expecting the instructors of our day. The Jerejak Rainforest Resort is clean yet simply beautiful. Immediately, we started our first two activities with wall climbing and rappelling after meeting up one of the instructors. The wall climbing was really fun and I managed to conquer the maximum height of the activity on my second attempt while rappelling was great too where you are to descend towards the end of a rope from a certain height which was the height of the wall climbing.

We had our buffet lunch in the resort hotel and waited for our next activities in the resort hotel's compound that will start at 2 o'clock. Some of us went playing poker in the lobby while I went for swimming with the rest in the resort hotel's pool. Upon continuing our third activity, we were asked to stretch ourselves first before we headed into the rainforest for jungle trekking. The jungle trekking was quite a challenging activity as compared to others as it was because of the slippery slopes and muddy tracks we encountered in this rainy season.

Group photo before we started our jungle trekking.

The entire jungle trekking came to its end when we reached the suspension bridge. We were only allowed to cross the suspension bridge five persons at one time. The experience of crossing over this suspension bridge was an awesome one because it is not a usual thing we can experience in our daily lives. The feeling of crossing this suspension bridge was like you-are-about-to-fall-but-you-are-not especially when someone tries to shake the bridge, it must be a heart pounding moment for those who are afraid of heights.

The suspension bridge!

Right after crossing the suspension bridge, it was the last activity we were having there back in Jerejak Island called flying fox. Again, the flying fox was really great were you are flying over from an end to the other end that is lower. As everyone of us had finished the flying fox, we headed back to the hotel lobby and took our rest there.

A screenshot taken out from a video footage of mine on flying fox.

There was a tree snake resting on a steel bar while we were on our way back to hotel lobby.

Despite being injured while getting down from flying fox, I would say this trip to Jerejak Island was a memorable yet adventurous hangout I ever had with my friends! The RM65 per person for the entire activities was worth it after all that include the buffet lunch which personally I think it is acceptable to fulfill your hungry stomach with no expectations of being a luxurious buffet. The trip to Jerejak Island of ours had ended at about 6 in the evening when we called it a day on that Saturday but the visit has yet to be ended for me as there are still some sites to be explored.

Our last group photo at the jetty back in Penang's.

Kek Lok Si Temple and Pagoda Displays of Lights

Thursday, 9th of February which was the 18th day in the first month of Chinese Lunar Calendar. 3 days after the 15th day of the first month of Chinese Lunar Calendar, we had missed the displays of lights on the gigantic Kuan Yin statue. Rather than the miss, the displays of lights in Kek Lok Si Temple and its Pagoda were lovingly beautiful. I feel like visiting a heavenly paradise walking around in the temple after meeting up with my friends and had the famous Laksa down the hill.

The displays of lights in Kek Lok Si Temple when we had missed display of the lights on Kuan Yin statue.

The displays of lights of the Pagoda before and after.

The entire temple was well decorated with lightings. The combinations of light colors were fascinating and attractive! In addition, each of the lighted lanterns were attached with labels of labels of wishes made by the donators along the corridors as you are walking upwards to the Pagoda.

The lanterns with the attachments were hung alongside on the ceiling of the corridor.

Like I said, it was heavenly beautiful inside the Kek Lok Si Temple. In front of the lighted small Pagoda sitting a statue of Buddha in His pavilion can be found when you are walking upwards to the Pagoda. I still feel like living in a paradise looking at these photos, do you feel so?

We come here once in awhile throughout the year so getting lost on our way up to the Pagoda was kind of expected until we took awhile to figure out the route towards the Pagoda where the souvenirs' shop are located. A fee of 4 Ringgit Malaysia are collected at the entrance towards the Pagoda.

And so after making our wishes and rang the bell below the Pagoda, we made our way towards the highest level of the iconic Pagoda back in year of 1927 through the stairs. The Pagoda is also known as the Pagoda of 10,000 Buddhas. As we reached the highest level of the Pagoda, the first thing we enjoyed the most is the chilling mountain breeze which was so cooling and refreshing. Besides that, we were able to enjoy the panoramic night view of Air Itam from there before we headed home that night.

For the displays of lights on the gigantic Kuan Yin statue, you may want to view a blogpost of the preceding year with a video attachment on the Display of Lights in Kek Lok Si Temple in the link below:

Displays of Lights In Kek Lok Si ( Year 2011 )

Temple of Heavenly Lord Tien Kong Than Penang

To be honest, this was my first time visiting this Temple of Heavenly Lord, Tien Kong Than in my hometown as a Penangite. Not until my mother wanted to pray there, I would still probably knowing only the exist of this temple. Temple of Heavenly Lord which is known as Tien Kong Than is located at the slope of Penang Hill in Air Itam. It is a Fu Zhou style temple founded by the Hokkien community and is known to exist for 141 years old today dedicating to the Jade Emperor or Tian Gong.

It took us awhile to reach the main entrance of the temple from the car park on the slope where the car park is connected to the Penang Hill cable car station. To reach the main entrance of this temple, you need to climb the granite stairs and if you are not capable of continuous climb, you may take your rest in a pavilion on the halfway towards the temple.

This is the main entrance of the Temple of Heavenly Lord, Tien Kong Than Penang.

Immediately after you enter the front hall of the temple, there are Buddhas of three directions and are flanked by two Dharma protectors. The interiors of the temple are clean and very neat, it is well maintained in short. Upon entering the temple, it made me felt like as if I am traveling backwards in time as the structures of the temple were so antique and fascinating!

Just right outside the hall of the Jade Emperor, the engravings on the ceiling of the pavilion were eye catching. You could see the details of every engravings but what will be in your mind on the meanings behind these engravings? Inside the central shrine of the hall, there sits the sculpture of Jade Emperor and surrounded by Sun God, Moon Goddess, and celestial officials alongside the walls.

The sculpture of the Jade Emperor and celestial officials at one side of the wall.

The scenery from the Temple of Heavenly Lord, Tien Kong Than Penang.

Hopefully on the 9th day of Chinese New Year next year, I would have the chance of being on of the devotees to pay my respect to the Jade Emperor as it is extremely crowded on that day. Penang, is such a wonderful historical state being blessed by the Gods. I am happy yet very proud of being a Penangite, do you?